Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Private-equity bigs: no proof of bid-rigging




What conspiracy?  According to the NY Post a handful of the country’s wealthiest and most powerful private-equity firms as pure as driven snow, have asked a federal judge to toss an explosive investor lawsuit that claims the group conspired to rig the bids on $270 billion in deals over four years.

The firms — including KKR, Bain Capital, Blackstone Group and Apollo Global Management — agreed not to bid on specific deals headed by a rival, thus fraudulently depressing the value of the deal. As a result, investors in those publicly-traded companies were short-changed.

The group of 11 financial giants named in the suit, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, claim there is no evidence of a vast bid-rigging conspiracy.  The defendants filed separate motions late Monday to dismiss the five-year-old suit. Goldman claims there’s no evidence it or other firms “participated in any conspiracy in violation of the antitrust laws.”

Last week, the firms failed to get Judge Edward Harrington to toss several key portions of the 2007 suit. Boston-based Harrington is expected to rule on the firms’ motions later this year.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/kings_of_denial_G4qa82RZk2qZGqeJllaxOM

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